The beginning of a new era, the dawning of a new age, demands, sacrifice! – Tzekel-Kan; The Road to Eldorado
Foreward Note
This article is written by Keegan, anything in red will be from the Alex, like god dropping in sick knowledge (and any links you may see).
Key
- BD : Banned deck
- ‘*’ : started the game
Banned Decks and Game Decks
| Player | Banned | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 |
| Jeff | Sythis | Satya | Pantalaza | Sheoldred* |
| Keegan | Atla | Zur* | Zacama* | Uril |
| Rich | Animar | Chatterfang | Ceasar | Chatterfang |
| Sean | Karumonix | Ur-Dragon | Hazel | Obuun |
Game 1
Chatterfang vs Satya vs Ur Dragon vs Zur
In the first game of the season, we see two newcomers, Jeff and Rich to the EDH League as well as two battle hardened veterans, Keegan and Sean. League experience or not, the first official league night started off with a bang.
Pregame action from Rich, he plays a Gemstone Caverns prior to Keegan starting the game with Zur.
Rich with the help of his pregame play was capable of casting a T1 Bitterblossom, a key piece in any black deck! (Really interesting play here in my eyes. Dropping this in on T1 automatically puts a target on your back, especially when coupled with the T0 Cavern. Interested to see how it plays out for him, and if the early game acceleration can outpace the hate I assume he is going to endure) With a power play like that you would think Rich would draw some hate, but instead Shaffer begs for retribution as he played a Soul Warden.
Keegan casts out a Sol Ring T3 as well as a Propaganda, hoping to overcome the future onslaught of squirrels and roguish fae. His dreams were dashed quickly by an Assassin Trophy targeting said Propaganda… PSYCH Rich’s Mixture got Muddled. No one is safe from Propaganda.
Rich retaliates by casting Chatterfang, strapping on a pair of greaves, then swinging with a flying faerie at Sean for 1 damage! The first blood spilt in the game, outside of self harming for mana.
Lot of early game action here that I really like to see. Rich hitting the ground running with an early beat down is really nice. The AT forcing the Muddle out of Keegan’s hand shuts down one of his lines to grab Strionic Resonator, I think Rich takes the win in that exchange with the ammount of enchantment removal at an efficient rate currently printed.
Turn 4 Life totals (Turn Order) K:39 R:34 S:38 J:41
Sean wielding his Ur-Dragon deck expertly casts the ever classic, Goldspan Dragon in an effort to maximize his mana to cast more and more dragons.
Satya makes its league debut and doesn’t hesitate, immediately jamming into Sean.
Zur is ready to jam, and plans to use his tool box to build a victory. Keegan casts a main phase, Savor the Moment, and oh boy does he. Zur swings into Jeff, knowing Satya is about to get out of hand, tutors out Curators Ward to protect Zur.
Rich moves directly into combat, prepares to swing out and attack everyone, then at the last moment directs all attackers at Sean and the Ur Dragon. The Ur-Dragon (and Sean) don’t take kindly to being attacked and moves to retaliate harshly. Sean casts a Hellkite Courser to bring out the big baddie itself, the Ur-Dragons enters into the fray for the turn. Sean directs the fury of the Ur-Dragon at Keegan and Zur, the Ur-Dragon doesn’t quickly forget his mortal enemies. The Ur-Dragon portals out Atarka, World Render giving dragons DoUbLe StRiKe.
Life totals dwindling, players panicking. Everyone braces for what could be the final few turns of the ga-
Rich infinite combos off using a Zuluport Cutthroat and a Pitiless Plunderer.
Rich and Chatterfang WIN!
Results: Rich: 1 Sean: 2 Jeff: 3 Keegan: 4
Tough table for everyone who is not Rich here. T1 Blitterblossom was wildly effective. I assume that without the doors open, no one was swinging in on him. Golgari is such an open combo color it is tough to deal with. His early acceleration and façade of defenders payed off well for him. Having a piece of the combo in the zone is always wonderful as well, but it seems like Rich flopped (almost) the nuts to close the game early. Combo deck running as it should imo.
Game 2
Caesar vs Pantalaza vs Hazel vs Zacama
*Disclaimer* this game write up is heavily biased to Zacama read on to find out why!
This game started off at blistering speeds with everyone hitting exactly 1 land on the first turn, with Zacama starting on the play. Turn 3 rolls around and everyone is building their mana economy, especially our favorite Naya lizard. Keegan R A M P S hard getting 7 mana on board by Turn 4. Using said mana, Keegan cracks off a Boundless Realms, into Swiftfoot Boots, a true mana addict.
Caesar is cast with a Skull Clamp quickly following. Hazel is flooding on mana (a dream of Zacama’s) and Jeff builds up a board with Pantalaza.
Turn 5 the world turns flip upside down. Zacama etbs, untaps lands, equips his Boots and turns his sights at another Naya lizard, Pantalaza.
This has been a mad interesting game so far. Zacama coming down onto this board is not good, but not totally off. Lot of X/4 commanders, so there is some range to run here. Zacama being on the play here I think is what is driving this a lot though. Having first move in a deck that is ramp tribal is some nasty work.
Turn 5 Life totals (Turn Order) K:37 R:37 S:39 J:29
T6 Keegan casts out Asceticism to complete protection on Zacama. Blasts a few key pieces on Jeff’s board, then attacks in at an open Jeff. Asceticism and Swiftfoot boots get zapped by Sean, only to see them brought back by Brought Back cast by Keegan.
T7 Rich’s Skrelv Hive and Skull Clamp get zapped by Zacama. Then jams into Rich for 9.
Hazel makes their debut onto the battlefield.
Jeff casts Trumpeting Carnosaur (doot doot) discovering Savage Order and pulls out Etali. In response, Keegan casts Banefire at Jeff for 8, removing him from the game. (The salt I would be producing after having a banger turn like this and getting hit with Banefire would put the Atlantic Ocean to shame lmao)
Someone needs to Farewell this board or the games coming to a close realllll quick. Zacama is a such a snowball, quickly tossing out lands then dropping a recurring nuke from the command zone. I hated playing this deck with commanders like Hapatra
Turn 8 Life totals (Turn Order) K:30 R:27 S:33 J:DEAD
Caesar recast for second time due to “not hitting lands”, blasphemy in the eyes of Zacama.
Zacama sets his sights on Rich next, jamming in for 9 damage.
Putting him to 18 commander damage.
Rich casts a Vindictive Vampire. Zacama jams in to kill Rich.
Turn 9 Life totals (Turn Order) K:27 R:Dead S:26 J:Dead
Sean casts Rootcast Apprenticeship forcing Keegan to sacrifice 3 nontoken artifacts.
Zacama cleans board and jams in for 9.
Zacama roaring in triumph, claims the win for Keegan.
Results: Keegan: 1 Sean: 2 Rich: 3 Jeff: 4
Zacama is such an odd deck. On paper it seems sort of pointless, but if left unchecked for ramp it becomes an issue extremely fast. As you are setting up your midgame, Zacama is 4-6 turns ahead on mana and nuking anything that you deploy. It is time for everyone to dust off their Cursed Totem’s imo.
Game 3
Chatterfang vs Sheoldred vs Obuun vs Uril
Yet again we get to see some OG League decks vs New Wave League decks. Chatterfang returns for a chance of a another win, and Sheoldred debuts for it’s first league match.
Sheoldred starts the game dropping a swamp and passing.
Uril gets a T1 Exploration, dumps a couple extra lands out.
Chatterfang is cast after a Mana Crypt (RIP) and Sol Ring are cast. All aggro is drawn to Rich having all that mana that could easily end the game with a wombo combo next turn.
Keegan casts a Composer of Spring as well as a Destiny Spinner, sitting at 5 mana due to Exploration. Powering up to hopefully stop Chatterfangs quick ascent.
Speaking of ascent, Rich casts Eldrazi Monument making everyone groan, then promptly swings at Keegan for 4 commander damage.
Jeff casts out a Rankle, Master of Pranks.
As the turn order comes back around to Keegan, Uril jams into Rich for 7 damage in retaliation.
Rich, with Chatterfang alone on the field, is forced to be sacrificed to keep the monument in place, then feels the wrath of the Mana Crypt taking a bolt to the chin. (Always go odds)
These opening salvos are insane. Keegan and Rich are like Cold War US vs. USSR, brinkmanship cranked to 11. Chatterfang capping a W on the night off a quick combo win left everyone on high alert, you can see it from just Keegan’s writing. The Chatterfang sac is a really interesting one. I get the thought process with the mana being there to recast, but it is a bit of timewalk. I would have prolly let the monument go and forced interaction from the table if they wanted to rumble. Going to guess with the lack of Sean notes as well that he just was not producing much threats at this time, which means he may be able to sneak under the radar and win the war without spilling much blood.
Turn 5 Life totals (Turn Order) J:39 K:30 R:17 S:36
Rankle swings at Sean, choosing every mode that is offered. Everyone discards, loses 1 life, sacrifices a creature and draws a card.
Obuun enters the battlefield!
Keegan casts Runes of Deus (top 5 card cycle imo. Awesome they came in at common too) onto Uril.
Uril jams into Rich for 11/11 doublestrike trample damage ending Chatterfang’s bid for glory.
Shaffer casts Sheoldred, who enters the battlefield for the first time, quickly followed by Teferi’s Puzzle Box and a Howling Mine.
Keegan casts out a Lightpaws. Keegan then swings Uril into Shaffer for 11/11 double strike trample, with a block from Sheoldred, netting 15 commander damage.
Sean casts Felidar Retreat into Roaring Earth. Big bad Obuun stands tall with 8 counters on him, then casting Emeria Angel.
Sheoldred re-enters the battlefield.
Keegan casts a slew of auras onto Lightpaws, searching out an assortment of other auras for Lightpaws. Combat ensues, Uril yet again is swung at Jeff. A newly 35/35 Lightpaws is swung at Sean.
Jeff dies to Uril.
Really tough to figure out Keegan’s gameplan & deck building specialty lmao. I think he is a spellslinger specialist. But, if you cannot deal with enchantments en masse you are screwed against him. Letting him untap with Lightpaws now has you fighting essentially 2 commanders who are fully beefed up. Uril at this point in EDH is viewed as an ‘old god’, but this deck always reminds me why he is one. Sheoldred was setup to cook heavy, and I get why Jeff got the beats from Keegan here. I really like where Obuun is trending towards, think Sean has some solid legs here. Rich got the short straw with getting the deck he popped off with Game 1.
Turn 7 Life totals (Turn Order) K:34 R:Dead S:13 J:Dead
Sean casts Hour of Revelation to subdue Uril; then into Wildwood Surge and Obuun is recast, swings in for 10 damage on Keegan.
Uril is recast, Armadillo Cloak cast onto him.
Sean casts Strionic Resonator to double Obuuns land trigger. Swings in for 21 damage.
This is a great outing from Obuun imo. The longevity of the deck in the mid to late game is really shining through. Uril has it as well, but if you can get hand size down and wipe out the board and draw engines, you have an opening for shields to be down. Hour of Rev is such a great card that I always forget about as well.
Turn 9 Life totals (Turn Order) K:11 R:Dead S:10 Sh:Dead
Keegan casts a barrage of auras on Uril and swings into an tapped out and open Sean for 18 damage.
Results: Keegan: 1 Sean: 2 Jeff: 3 Rich: 4
Closing Remarks
This was a really solid first week of league in my eyes. We saw a combo win, a pure commander win, and a commander driven win. Keegan’s decks were able to eat heavy, and I attribute it to having previous league experience with deck building. Transitioning from casual to competitive EDH, and trying to build power or incorporate lines / combos from 60 card into the format is hard. Especially toeing the line of high power and cEDH. It is one of the joys I got during my time in the league, I always had holes in my decks and I accepted it.
Enchantments seem to be a heavy theme across decks in the league, either in pure strategy, execution pieces, or support. I would be dropping a lot of non-creature hate cards and sweeping up the non-sense while playing down creatures. But, I am also looking from the outside in, so take it with a grain of salt.
There was a win with a black deck, but it did seem that black decks struggled in these games. The early ramp by green seems to pushing the pace at the table, and the decks without it are struggling. If you have a deck that cannot win the mana race, work to put them back onto even terms with you.